Dragonflies

The Dragonfly pre-school room is based on the first floor of Amen House.  This light, airy room welcomes upto 24 children each day aged between 2 & a half years of age upto 4 years old.  The play space has an informal feel recognising the that the children need to feel at relaxed and at home to get the most from their day. The early education is led by Sarah, an 'Outstanding' Early Years Teacher (EYT) with 20 years experience, she works closely with Ruth (Qualified Teacher); together with our early years educators they make quite the team.

The day starts gently, we gather as a group for morning welcome at 8.45am; looking at our plans & our hopes for the day building on previous learning.  The morning is filled with activities in the play space, the gardens or the community; a café style snack is designed to minimize any interruptions to the children's play.  At midday the children & educators enjoy lunch and a lull before they get going again for the afternoon.  Teatime is a chance to reflect on our day and our plans for tomorrow before we wind down ready for home.

The room is designed to promote the children's independence, with a focus on their personal, social & emotional development. There are areas for construction, small world, domestic play, art, maths, sand/water, books and much more, the children are invited to combine the resources to support their interests and learning.  The activities & events reflect the seasons and celebrations within this, while our educators identify the children's interests and build activities around theses.  Often learning links to books, building children's literacy skills and a broad vocabulary promotes life long learning. 

The team are skilled in delivering all seven areas of learning through fun activities.  There are group activities planned on different days, each focusing on specific learning outcomes - the Dragonflies even run their own Baking Business!  A feature of the room is our Woodpecker sessions, more about these can found here.

Children are encouraged to share books at home and we makes regular trips to the community library, just across the park in Bedale Town Hall.  

In 2023 we joined children around the world in doing the Daily Mile, this has been shown to be beneficial to the children's mental & physical well-being and fits our ethos perfectly. 

Parents are invited to our 'Web of Learning' evenings through the year, the aim is to explain more about our approach to early education, to share ideas for home learning and discuss the children's progress. 

At the end of the day there is a slightly shorter handover than downstairs, parents don't miss out though as we know the children always have a lot to say themselves about their nursery day.  We continue to add to their learning journal, building a book of memories for them to take when they leave move to school.